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Life Affects Life: Helping Adolescents Brave wind, Find Light in Life with Theater, Affirmative Actions |
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Located at Dadaocheng, Taipei, the Against Wind Theater was founded in 2015. It is the first troupe that focuses on helping adolescents with special circumstances. Its headquarters opens until 11 p.m. every night with no off days. Its three founders—Wei-Sheng Cheng, Wei-Zhi Chen, and Jay Chiu—were once adolescents with special circumstances themselves. As such, they are empathic with adolescents who are in need of constructive company and assistance during the night time. All three founders came from Dadaocheng and they share the same experience of turning around their lives. Nowadays, they give guidance to many adolescents who create and exhibit art works via theater, and organize welfare activities in the community. From turning life stories into stage production at the elderly centers, to going around Taiwan to interact with adolescents in other parts of the country, they form the Against Wind Team to spread love and care.
In 2022, the Against Wind Theater won the Youth Action Award of the first Community Empowerment Awards organized by the Ministry of Culture. The award recognizes the efforts of troupe members in the Dadaocheng community, for which they elevate youth diversity, provide long-term company and support, and reach out to more adolescents facing hardship. Via courses and concrete actions, the troupe members work to complement the social safety net. This year marks the eighth year of their endeavor. The positive influence stemming from the vicissitudes of life is spreading. Their actions prove the stigma associated with “problematic students” can be removed. In the process, they not only have found a bearing in life, but also continuously help other people who need support.
Founders and adolescents of Against Wind Theater (Image Source: Against Wind Theater)
Setting off on life journey from hardship, creating good-deed troupe “gang”
Wei-Sheng Cheng said that when Wei-Zhi Chen, Jay Chiu and he founded the troupe, he was only 18 or 19 years old. In fact, he started getting involved with the community since he was 13—by forming the first gang in his life. The other two co-founders were also problematic students who did not like school much. Cheng explained that to a large extent, they actually knew the community best, especially in using people with local characteristics. They knew who would gather at which street at what time, which park had the most people, how to organize gang members for a fight. Many of his classmates would be thrown in juvenile detention centers or disappeared entirely. They often wondered—was this all life had to offer?
When he was 17, introduced by a social worker, Cheng attended theater courses and became a playwriter. He started by coming up with a story, and turning the story into a play. Amid the right lighting, music, artistic sets, and in the right costume, actors used their body language and expression to say the lines he wrote. That was the first time he felt his love for theater. He also gained the experience of being responsible for something he loved. The social worker who helped Cheng for five years became his guide in establishing the theater gang, the Against Wind Theater, along with two other young men from Dadaocheng who decided to turn their lives around as well. Only this time, it was an organization which set out to do only good deeds, that is, recruiting adolescents in special circumstances. “All three of us are 25, 26 years old. We can see ourselves in many kids in our troupe. We see the needs and we come up with a solution. This is actually feasible. I think we don’t have to wait until we are successful to help,” said Cheng.
Changing of adolescents’ fate with inspiration, co-creation actions
The founders first changed the design of theater performance courses and led young people to step onto the stage. One by one, they shared their life stories. The adolescents of troupe had been sent to juvenile detention centers, alternate schools, and placement agencies. Facing these adolescents who share their adolescent experience, breaking the ice was no problem for the founders. They managed to cultivate a relationship that was based on trust, and enabled adolescents that they met for the first time to act onstage, unequivocally expressing their dreams for the future. “I find theater to be very diverse. Some people, who may not like acting, can become playwrights. Some can work on lighting or sound. Each kid gets to find his or her interest and take on the corresponding responsibility. Together, we can complete a production hand in hand. It is such a wonderful thing.”
The founder, Wei-Zhi Chen, interacts with adolescents in a group course. (Image Source: Against Wind Theater)
Cheng said even if these youngsters have disappointed their loved ones many times, when they finally present an invitation card to their families, social workers and people who care about them, they can redeem themselves and make up for the frustration they have caused. Via theater performance, these adolescents with special circumstances are able to step onstage and make their dreams come true, thereby garnering a positive experience. Many adolescents who used to have little interest in studying, are able to be enrolled in the theater class in public high schools. Some adolescents find interest in music and aspire to be rappers. The effect of theater is far beyond Cheng and his partners imagination.
The adolescents even proactively sought to do volunteer work using their strengths. This became an opportunity for the troupe to develop the Co-creation with Youth and Seniors Program. At first, the elderly people in community centers were worried about those adolescents with special circumstances. “Are they violent?” “Would they steal from us?” None of their worries happened. These adolescents talked about their dreams with the elderly people, worked together in a play, and discussed death and memorial photo during a photography lesson. Such honest interaction without labels and stigma prompted the elderly people to exclaim, “I almost forgot I am old!” This is the best manifestation of cross-generation dynamic that one can hope for.
Troupe leader, Wei-Sheng Cheng roots for the adolescents before a play. (Image Source: Against Wind Theater)
Next step: Establishing education platform
“We find that adolescents can be influenced and changed via theater. But there are many problems thereafter, which cannot be resolved entirely by theater. Therefore, we will start to establish a social welfare system to help them go to school, get a job, and get medical care.” Cheng also pointed out that with the assistance of professional social workers in helping adolescents face survival and life planning problems, as well as adolescents who lost their way that the troupe came across, the framework and capacity for an education platform slowly come to fruition.
Apart from bringing customized education courses to various places, the troupe hopes to establish a testing education platform in Sanchong, New Taipei City. The platform will cater to dropouts from high schools and vocational schools. “They can come to the base of the troupe for three years without having to do a major. We will help them learn how to mingle with other people, how to conduct themselves, and envision their future. Once they graduate from the troupe, they can also be conferred the graduation certification of their original schools.” Cheng believes that more than half of the adolescents would have more opportunities to understand why they need to study. When studying no longer feels like a burden to them, they can choose to study the major of their choice in a university. Through the theater experience, the Against Wind Theater expand the diversity of education one step at a time. It has accumulated much energy to support adolescents with special circumstances. The future of an education platform in Sanchong that focuses on helping young outcasts is indeed worth looking forward to.
Founder, Jay Chiu with an adolescent in the troupe. (Image Source: Against Wind Theater)
Care spread by Against Wind Team
Youths who are younger than 30 years old in the troupe are providing meaningful contact to more than 500 adolescents. The troupe not only fosters solidarity via theater and annual production, as Cheng pointed out, they also often discuss ideas with the adolescents, tour the island, and share life stories. They also take lessons in tattooing, spray-painting, American-style haircutting, motorbike modification and helmet varnishing. They even learn how to drift in a safe environment. After all, we should “let the kids be cultured beings—biking with style and sophistication!”
In 2020, the troupe formed the Against Wind Team with adolescents who had a motorbike license. They could safely and stylishly send things to elderly people living alone with motorcycles. The troupe also plans to bring cooking equipment to communities to cook for the elderly people. Such caring notion and act are a product of collective wisdom. “They can appreciate the scenery en route. After arriving at their destinations, they can provide meaningful interaction to many people, cheering them up. The guys have a lot of satisfaction from the work.” Cheng thinks that adolescents need to feel useful and have self-worth. Such purposeful group action is instrumental in preventing them from reverting to delinquency.
Against Wind Building to connect fields of diversity
The troupe helped many adolescents to receive barista training and get a barista certification. The effort was for the trial operation of the Against Wind Café, which was set to start operation in May 2023. Since 2022, the troupe has entered into a cooperation with Taiyuan Culture and Arts Foundation. In the summer this year, the troupe would open the café in the four-story Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum at Dadaocheng. The first floor of the building is where coffee and refreshments are provided. Community courses can also be held there. It is a training ground for the adolescents to prepare them for work. Their colleagues are social workers that know them best. The second floor is the venue for quarterly themed exhibitions covering youth subcultures and life stories of adolescents of the troupe. The third floor is where the office is. It can also be used for holding events with NGOs from other communities, large-scale conferences, and Founders’ Night that serve the common welfare of communities. The fourth floor is for producing podcasts, and conducting interviews with media outlets. Cheng said, “For eight years, we work to take root in the community, by engaging in performance art, educational innovation, caring for children and adolescents with special circumstances and charity work. Our efforts can now become more concerted here. Hopefully, this building is able to create solidarity for different groups.”
The troublemakers that were once stigmatized and held in little regard have now become important actors who can resolve problems in the community. This has always been the turnaround stories that the Against Wind Theater works for. Cheng added that he only ever re-created an inherited the love and care he received from the social worker who helped him. “We want the kids who join our troupe to do only one thing—believe in themselves. They should believe that they are great to begin with! When they start believing they can do it, they can pass on the love and care that we extend to them.” The Against Wind Theater that refuses to be restricted by social conventions is more than a troupe. It is also a gang which is eager to do good deeds. They are gratified in becoming an aid to social workers, the community, the justice system, and the police force. They are proud to hold the hands of adolescents with special circumstances —to brave the wind and find the light in life.
Introduction to the Against Wind Theater
Troupe leader, Wei-Sheng Cheng, co-founded the Against Wind Theater with Wei-Zhi Chen and Jay Chiu in 2015. It is the first troupe in Taiwan that focuses on caring for adolescents.
For the past eight years, the troupe takes root in rehabilitating dropouts and high-risk youths, providing them with diverse, comprehensive and long-lasting company and help. Via theater and welfare activities, they help juvenile delinquents to turn over a new leaf, engage in communication and dialogs with society, and remove their “bad kid” label, affording them an opportunity of self-actualization.
(Interview Editor: Ling-Ying Huang)
Reviewed by: Against Wind Theater
Authorization in this article：CC3.0 BY-NC-SA
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